Summary
Included here are the western coastal plains (Malabar Coast) of Peninsula India from the southern vicinities of Broach to Cape Comorin, the western side of the Western Ghats (Malabar Hills) including the Anamalai, Cardamom, Nilgiri and Palni hills, and the coral Laccadive Islands.
Of the endemic and near endemic vascular plants so far recorded there are about 362 species in 246 genera and 77 families. There are 28 endemic genera (marked red) but no endemic families. However, there are reported to be over 1000 endemic species for this area so further information is required.
References
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Ayyappan, N. & Parthasarathy, N.1999. Biodiversity inventory of trees in a large-scale permanent plot of tropical evergeen forest at Varagalaiar, Anamalais, Western Ghats, India. Biodiversity and Conservation, 8: 1533-1554.
Gadgil, M. & Meher-Homji, V. M. 1990. Ecological Diversity. In: Conservation in Developing Countries: problems and prospects. Eds. J.C. Daniel and J. S. Serrao. Proceedings of the Centenary Seminar of the Natural History Society. Bombay Natural History Society. Oxford University Press.
Gopalan, R. & Henry, A. N. 2000. Endemic Plants of India. CAMP for the strict endemics of Agasthiyamalai Hills. SW Ghats. Bishen Singh Mahendra Palsingh, Dehra Dun.
Joshi, V. C. & Janarthanam, M. K. 2004. The diversity of life-form type, habitat preference and phenology of the endemics in the Goa region of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Biogeography, 31: 1227-1237.
Nayar, M. P. 1996. “Hot Spots” of endemic plants of India, Nepal and Bhutan. Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute. Palode, Thiruvananthapuram.
Pascal, J-P., Pelissier, R., Loffeier, M. E. & Ramesh, B. R. 1998. Floristic composition, structure, diversity, and dynamics of two evergreen forest plots in Karnataka State, India. In: Forest Biodiversity Research, Monitoring and Modeling. Eds. F. Dallmeier and J. A. Comiskey. Man and the Biosphere Series, Volume 40. The Parthenon Publishing Group.
Subramanyam, K. & Nayar, M. P. 1974. Vegetation and Phytogeography of the Western Ghats. In: Ecology and Biogeography in India. Ed. M. S. Mani. Dr W. Junk Publishers. The Hague.